


Thursday Brunch

by itsa_bee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/M, happy fluffy thursdays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 12:07:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16095338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsa_bee/pseuds/itsa_bee
Summary: A 4-part story about hangovers, brunches, and our dear sweet James and Lily. Read if you’re in the mood for a light happy fic. Good for stress-relief and smiling. Best if read while eating brunch of some sort.---“Lily what are you getting?” Marlene asked her friend who had the menu currently held up in front of her face.“I haven’t looked yet,” came out from behind it.“You’ve been staring at the menu for five minutes.”“I don’t think I can read.”“You can’t read?” Remus set his menu down, the conversation having caught his attention.“Can’t read. Can’t function. Definitely can’t go to my behavioral pharmacology class this afternoon.”





	1. Thursday #1

“Lily what are you getting?” Marlene asked her friend who had the menu currently held up in front of her face.

“I haven’t looked yet,” came out from behind it.

“You’ve been staring at the menu for five minutes.”

“I don’t think I can read.”

“You can’t read?” Remus set his menu down, the conversation having caught his attention.

“Can’t read. Can’t function. Definitely can’t go to my behavioral pharmacology class this afternoon.” Lily ceased her attempt to choose a brunch item and set the menu down on the table and her head on top of it. She had to shift her attention slowly. Quick head movements sent the world spinning and her stomach lurching. Lily cursed herself for drinking so much the night before.

“Ohh poor hungover Lily.” Remus reached across the table to tussle her hair. But the moment Remus’ hand touched her hair, she slapped his hand away. Her hair was enough of a mess already, she didn’t need Remus making it any worse.

“Poor hungover Lily my ass,” Marlene rolled her eyes.

Lily peaked up from the table, “Mean Marlene.”

“You ditched me last night!”

“I love when there’s a story,” Remus hummed.

The trio had been coming to the same brunch place, The Silver Skillet every Thursday morning since the beginning of the semester. All three of their schedules worked out so that no one had class before noon on Thursday. This was convenient on two counts: one- they were able to make their brunches a weekly tradition instead of a sporadic meet-up, and two- it allowed for them to go out the night before without the risk of oversleeping a class, or being too hungover to attend. Thus was born the Thursday morning brunch, where at least one person was hungover every week.

“In my defense, it was an accident,” Lily argued.

“Lily that’s a terrible defense!” Marlene laughed back.

Remus looked back and forth between the two girls. “So are we going to share or?”

Marlene sat up straighter, preparing a monologue. “Lily and I went out to MJQ last night to have a girls night. We danced, drank, laughed. Everything was great until Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome swoops in and—“

“— Oh he was dreamy wasn’t he,” Lily remembered, a smile now on her face. Marlene continued to talk but Lily was caught up remembering the man she met the night before. How his charming eyes never left hers. And how sure and fitting his hands felt on her waist. She had never met anyone she was so instantly attracted to.

Marlene gave Remus a knowing look. “Next thing I know he’s buying her drinks and she’s dancing with him all night instead of me.”

“I’m sorry Marlene,” Lily dragged out her words.

A waiter walked up to their table, yellow notepad in hand. “How’s it going? You three ready to order?” She had bright purple eyeshadow and was chewing gum as she spoke to the group.

Lily shot Remus a significant look, mildly panicked. “We’re going to need a few more minutes I think” Remus spoke for the group.

The staff at The Silver Skillet was starting to become familiar with the three of them, and the waitress smiled kindly, “Well just take your time and flag me down when you’re ready.”

“But didn’t we run into that group with Julia and them? So you weren’t completely alone,” Lily still wanted to be forgiven.

“Yeah, while you were making out on the dance floor I was making small talk with Julia’s roommate’s boyfriend or something.” Marlene’s annoyance appeared fake, a humorous tone creeping into her voice. And Lily knew all was well.

“Dance floor make out, Lily? Well that at least explains the hickey,” Remus observed casually. 

At his words, Lily’s eyes opened wide in horror. “What?!” She reached for her phone to check her appearance. Sure enough, a dark red bruise had formed on the side of her neck. “Oh no,” she moaned and put her head in her hands, already thinking about how much makeup she’d have to use to cover it up. And the stress of hoping it didn’t show through anyways. “I have a presentation tomorrow!”

“He must have been a good kisser if you let him give you a hickey,” Marlene laughed as she got a good look at the spot.

“He was,” Lily replied, “or at least, I think he was. Drunk me thought he was.” Flashes of lips and hands and being close- so close- ran through her mind. When he kissed her, she could have sworn the music and crowd all fell away. She could still feel where his hands held her. Where his lips kissed her. A blush creeped to her cheeks that Lily hoped wasn’t too noticeable.

Remus rolled his eyes, “I feel like this always happens when you two go to MJQ. Last time it was that exchange student.”

“I remember that one,” Marlene replied, “and the time before that was Lily and the baseball player.”

“But remember Lily and the freshman?” Remus added on.

Marlene laughed at the memory, “I think that’s one of my favorite stories- how he tried so hard to get your attention. Almost like a puppy.”

Lily crossed her arms like an upset child, “I don’t like this game.” Bringing up her old drunken stories brought a new blush to her face, but this time tinged with embarrassment. She hadn’t realized how often this type of thing happened until hearing it listed out like Remus and Marlene were doing. Not that that was a bad thing. Making-out was always fun. She just didn’t want to make a habit of kissing strangers, although it seemed as if she was beginning to.

“We’re just reminiscing,” Remus said innocently. “And I mean, at least this only really happens at MJQ.”

“Yeah you don’t really have drunk make-outs anywhere else,” Marlene added.

“It’s cause we dance so much there,” Lily explained, “And I love dancing. And then that combined with the drinks and the cute guys who I inevitably end up dancing with… It’s just a bad combination.”

“But always makes for good Thursday stories,” Remus was always willing to point out the bright side in a situation.

Lily internally agreed, she did have some good stories. But she also decided that this hickey would be the last. She was a 4th year, after all, and maybe it was time for her to stop getting hickeys from random drunk guys. Plus they’re just a pain to deal with-the hickeys and the drunk guys. “I think My New Year’s resolution is to not make out with any more guys when I am drunk. Or when they’re drunk. Only sober make-outs from now on,“ Lily said decidedly. Her hands flat on the old diner table, a resolute look in her eye.

“Lily,” Remus reasoned,“it’s April.” He took a sip of his coffee as if no argument could counter his.

“Yeah well, why do we celebrate the New Year in January anyways? Why can’t New Years be in April?”

Marlene studied Lily. “Are you still drunk?”

Lily huffed. “You know what? Maybe. But thats not the point.”

“And what is the point?” Remus asked.

“The point is my New Years Resolution. This is the last entertaining story you will have from me. Marlene, you’ll need to pick up some slack and make more exciting, potentially questionable drunk decisions.”

“Whatever you say Lily.” Marlene closed her menu. She signaled for the waiter to come back over.

“Good luck with that one.” Remus picked up his menu once more, studying his brunch options one last time.

Although she was frustrated at her friends’ clear lack of faith in her, Lily was overcome by a completely different sort of feeling. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and vomit. Please order me a waffle.“


	2. Thursday #2

“I just texted Remus that we’re here.” Marlene said over the music that Lily had playing in the car.

“Look at us, actually being on time to something!”

“We’re on time, not hung over, or sleep deprived-“ Marlene counted on her hands, “I think we’re on the way to becoming real, functioning people.”

“I’m so proud.”

Remus opened the back door and slid in behind Marlene.

“And here’s our third!” Lily looked over her shoulder to greet a tired-looking Remus.

“Remus look we’re responsible humans for a change!”

“Yeah no one’s hungover or late or still asleep!”

Something like a moan came from Remus. He shut his eyes and put his head in his hands in response to Lily and Marlene.

“Oh no.”

“Remus?” Lily asked the question she already knew the answer to. “Are you hungover?”

“Just drive” Remus gave as a confirmation. Lily grinned to Marlene and pulled away from the curb, steering them towards The Silver Skillet, lots of coffee and, most importantly, brunch.

“You know, Remus. If anything I’m proud- you’re almost never the hungover one and sometimes I worry that you don’t have enough fun” Marlene slid into the booth next to Remus, who was resting his head on the wall next to him.

“Well I had enough fun for all three of us last night.”

“How’d you end up like this anyways?” Lily sat across from the pair but leaned forward to hear Remus’ explanation.

“Yeah didn’t you say last night that you were staying in?”

“I did,” Remus picked his head up from the wall, “The miserable part is it’s not even really much of a story. I was watching a movie with Pete and our other two roommates came home and demanded we have a guys night and drink the house dry.”

Lily leaned back in the booth. “Yeah that’s not as exciting as I thought it was going to be.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“You sure you didn’t go to any strip clubs or have to bail someone out of jail?” Marlene asked.

“Pretty sure. Told you- no good stories.” Remus adjusted the glasses on his face and gulped down the water that the waitress had just brought to the table.

“What a shame. Try to do better next time, will ya?” Marlene bumped his shoulder.

“I’ll do my best,” he promised.

Marlene shifted her attention, hands folded on the table professionally. She carried herself like she was leading a business meeting. "Now, next order of business. Lily-“

As soon as Marlene said her name, Lily knew what was coming. “I don’t want to talk about whatever you’re about to bring up”

“How do you know what I’m going to bring up?”

“You’re about to ask what happened with that guy I left with last night.”

Marlene smiled. “Well now that you’re bringing it up, it’s only fair that you share with the group”

“Wait yeah what happened?” Remus sounded slightly awake for the first time all morning.

Lily avoided the question by drinking from her coffee mug so Marlene took the liberty of filling him in. “So we went to that house party last night and Lily left with a guy after flirting with him all night. Y’all left pretty early in the night now that I think of it.”

Lily shut her eyes at the memory. “It was terrible.”

“Terrible? There’s no way- I made a bet with Julia that there would be a 4th date cause you two looked so into each other.”

Lily put down her coffee hard enough that some spilled over the side. “You what?”

“What happened?” Remus cut in, demanding an explanation.

Marlene grinned. “Fireworks”

Lily covered her face with her hands and groaned.

“Lily what happened after you left the party?” Remus asked.

“I’m the worst, most awkward human I know is what happened”

“You’re gonna have to give us more than that,” Remus rolled his eyes.

“Well.” Lily reluctantly began, “For one thing, you guys should be proud of me because I kept to my New Years in April Resolution.”

“So you didn’t kiss?” Marlene asked, “Other than you missing out because he is objectively one of the most attractive guys I have met- how is that terrible?”

“Well-

“Wait who’s the guy?”

Lily spoke quickly, deciding to rip the bandaid off and get the story over with as fast as possible. “Okay quick backstory for Remus. Last night at the bar we saw the same guy from last week.”

“The one you ditched Marlene for to make out with and in turn received a giant hickey?”

Lily sighed, “The very same. So he showed up at the bar last night. And I was fully prepared to do the ‘pretend like we have no memory of the week before and ignore each other’ thing the whole night, but as soon as we made eye contact he walked right over and re-introduced himself. We got to talking, and I had to leave early because I have that paper due this afternoon I needed to wake up and finish-“

Marlene cut in. “-Leaving me all alone in the bar.”

“We were with Julia, quit being dramatic.” Lily countered good-naturedly, “Anyways, told the guy I had to leave, which was a shame because I actually liked talking to him, surprisingly enough. But I showed unexpected self control because he offered to buy me a drink and I said no, since another would have made me officially drunk and no longer in the safe zone of just-buzzed.”

Lily waited for a response and Remus- impatient to hear the rest of the story- gave in. “I’m so proud.”

“So,” Lily continued. She hoped she could make it through the rest of the story painlessly, but her stomach was already tying itself in knots as she shared what happened during the rest of her night. “He offers to walk me home since it’s just a few blocks, and as we’re walking he takes my hand. And it’s starting to feel a little romantic-ey, and I’m remembering my resolution and how I still don’t know the guy so I can’t kiss him- plus he seemed drunk which was against the rules anyways. And as I’m deciding that I officially am not going to kiss him, we get to the apartment. I noticed him leaning in slightly, and I knew what was coming so- I don’t even know why I said it, I just got so flustered and— “

“— wait what did you say?” Marlene cut to the chase.

“Well I sort of just asked him not to kiss me,” Lily said slowly.

Marlene burst out laughing. Remus, however, was still interested in the story.

“Wait, what did you say exactly though?”

Lily grimaced at the memory. “Please don’t kiss me.“

“Really Lily?”

“That was YOU?!” Remus cut in.

“It was mortify— wait Remus what do you mean. Why are you laughing?” Lily had hidden her face with her hands at her confession, but removed them when she processed what Remus had just said.

Remus removed his glasses and wiped his the tears from his eyes. “This is amazing”

“Remus-“ Lily began.

“Just to be sure, what’s the guys name?” He asked. Remus tried and failed to hid the grin from his face. Whatever he knew was evidently very funny.

Lily furrowed her eyebrows. “James.” She didn’t understand why that would matter to Remus. Or why he was so suddenly amused.

Marlene voiced Lily’s thoughts. “I’m confused here.”

“Lily, do you know my roommates’ names?”

That smirk had not left Remus’ face and Lily was beginning to get frustrated. “I think?” She didn’t see the relevance but continued to answer his question, “We’ve never met but you talk about them eno- oh no.” She stopped mid-sentence, struck with the realization of what had Remus in stitches laughing.

Marlene counted the names on her hands, “There’s Sirius, Peter, Ja- ohmygod Lily.”

“He’s your ROOMMATE?!” Lily slammed her hands on the table, causing the silverware to jostle around slightly. Several heads in the restaurant towards their table. Lily had forgotten she was in a public place and probably shouldn’t shout like she just had. She wanted to reach over the table and smack Remus for laughing but restrained herself.

“Oh this is hilarious,” Remus looked like someone just told him he won the lottery.

“This is awful,” Lily corrected.

“No, I’m with Remus,” Marlene joined in, “This is the funniest thing ever.”

“James is your roommate.” But Lily was still processing what she had just learned, “I made out with your roommate last week. Your roommate who is obsessed with cats is also James. The one I made out with-”

“-And then very politely asked not to kiss you.” Remus reminded her, like she had left out his favorite part.

“I hate everything,” Lily groaned.

But Marlene had stopped her laughing and looked like she was putting puzzle pieces together. “Wait Remus, how did you know that part?”

“Because Sirius and James came home from the party, pretty soon after James walked you back I think, Lily. And James had said he was upset because a girl he really- a girl had turned him down, so we decided a Marauders night would be the best solution. He told us the story after the second round of shots. Didn’t mention your name funny enough, though.”

“My worlds are colliding. This is terrible,” Lily massaged her temples.

“I still can’t get over that you named yourselves the Marauders,” Marlene commented.

“We’ve been over this a million times, Marlene.”

“Doesn’t change that it makes you seem like a boyband.”

While they continued back and forth, Lily kept running the scenario over in her head. “I can’t believe he’s your roommate.”

“I can’t believe that you actually said ‘please don’t kiss me’ to James.” Remus smirked.

“I was tired and buzzed enough not to think about what I was saying.” Lily defended herself, “To his credit though, he handled it extremely well. Was very polite and not the awkward fool that I was. ”

Remus nodded. “Yeah well, this also means that it’s all your fault that I have a hangover.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Split the french toast with me and apology accepted.”

“Deal.”

They shook on it, and Lily decided to think no more on the embarrassment that was the night before. She physically cringed every time she thought about her last interaction with James, so she came up with a new resolution- that she would not think about it. Or about James. Even if he had been more charming than she remembered. And funnier. And somehow more handsome, too.

Lily quickly learned that some resolutions are harder to keep than others.


	3. Thursday #3

“So Marlene is our hungover one this week?”

Marlene’s jaw dropped a fraction of an inch. “How did you know? We just sat down.”

“You were quiet in the car.” Remus said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But both girls gave him confused stares, so he shrugged and continued, “You’re only ever quiet in the car if you’re hungover.” 

“Yeah, well. I overestimated my liver last night.”

Lily raised her eyebrows. “You also cried last night.”

“What?” Remus looked shocked, “Marlene never cries.”

“I know right.”

“Remus, you really need to come out with us on Wednesdays so that we wouldn’t have to fill you in so much.” Marlene complained then gulped down the water glass that the waitress had just set on the table. 

“I told you- I work closing shift at the animal shelter, and besides, what would we talk about if I already knew all the Wednesday night stories?”

“Fair,“ she conceded.

“Wait so Marlene, why did you cry?”

But Lily answered for her friend. “She was fighting the patriarchy!”

Marlene shook her head and smiled, “I got into a fight with a guy in the mens bathroom.”

“Ok,” Remus said slowly, "so those technically are answers but now I have even more questions.”

“We went to Light Mare last night,” Lily said, by way of explanation.

“The karaoke bar? Nice.”

“Lily did the Bohemian Rhapsody and let me tell ya, it was not nice.”

Remus’ eyes lit up. “Please tell me there’s a video of that somewhere.”

"Please tell me there’s not!” Lily grabbed Marlene’s phone from where it lay on the table and furiously punched in the passcode, hoping to delete whatever incriminating video she had.

But Marlene sat calmly and said, “Julia’s Snapchat story”

Lily groaned internally. “Ok but back to the Marlene crying story?”

“Lily you think you can distract me but I’ll just watch it later,” Remus was too smart to fall for her distraction tactics, but apparently curious enough about their night to play along. “But yes, Marlene please continue”

Marlene took one last sip of her water and began her story.

“So we’re at Light Mare right, and I had to go to the bathroom really badly. There was a line for the girls and none for the boys, and I was with one of the Prewett twins so we both just decided to use the mens restroom together since there was a stall in there I could use.

“So I’m peeing in the stall- Gid had finished his business and was washing his hands when this asshole knocks on the little door and is like ‘hey girl. why are you even in here? I’m having to wait because you’re taking your sweet time.’ And I was like ‘ours had a super long line, chill I’ll be out in a minute’ thinking he was just rude but that’d be it. But then the creep fucking starts trying to look over the stall door or something so I said ‘are you trying to get yourself on the registered sex offenders list because you’re doing a pretty good job of it right now.’ ”

Remus’ jaw had dropped. “He started peeking over the stall?”

“Yes.” Marlene looked like she couldn’t believe what she was saying either.

“Did you punch him in the face.”

“Funny you should ask. I was actually planning to when I came out of the stall. But Gid stopped me. He said that the man looked like the type to punch back so it wasn’t a good idea.”

“Holy shit,” was all Remus could give in response.

“And then I cried,” Marlene shrugged, then added, “Which was annoying because it was just cause I was so furious.” 

“I mean I’m mad I wasn’t there to hit the guy for you!”

“Remus. Let’s be real. You would not have hit anyone.”

“But that is something I’d like to see- Remus in a bar fight,” Lily smiled at the thought.

Remus crossed his arms. “I’m a little offended that the thought of me in a fight is not something you guys take seriously.”

“Sorry Remus,” Marlene offered. Lily tried to reach over to pat his head but he was not having it.

“No you’re not.”

At this, Marlene’s grin was back.“Yeah you’re right I’m not at all”

“So did you go home after?”

“No. Then we went and danced to Stacy’s Mom.”

“We went home after Marlene puked in the bathroom later,” Lily added.

Marlene glared at Lily. “I thought we decided not to tell anyone that part.”

“It’s Remus, Mar,” Lily said, sipping on her water innocently.

“You sure had an eventful night Marlene, I’m impressed you made it to brunch”

“Please,” she scoffed, “Of course I made it. I only threw up once at the bar.”

“Yeah I’m glad it all happened at Light Mare,” Lily mused, “I might not have been as good of a caregiver if there had been vomit in our apartment.”

“You sound like Peter- he hates whenever we puke. Says he gets sympathetic nausea.”

“Sympathetic nausea?” Marlene furrowed her eyebrows in suspicion, “Is that a real thing?”

“Maybe. It might also just be an excuse he gives to avoid cleaning up anyone’s throw up.”

Marlene turned to Lily abruptly. “Oh yeah wait- I’ve been meaning to ask you this but keep forgetting every time I see you. Have you seen James since last week?”

“Could you be any more random?” Lily tried to cover up how even the sound of his name had her feeling on edge.

“It’s not random, we’re talking about Remus’ roommates. He’s one of them.”

“So I remember,” she deadpanned.

“Well?” Marlene was met by Lily’s stare, “Have you?”

“Nnnnnope” Lily said slowly, but then amended, “well not really.” 

“Not really?”

“I mean,” she shrugged, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, “I saw him at a coffee shop on Monday. We talked for half a second, but then he left cause he was meeting some girl there.” 

The truth was, it was more than a half second conversation. She had been reading in the corner when James pulled up a chair next to her and opened with the line "If I didn’t know any better, Lily Evans, I’d think you were stalking me. Everyone knows this is my favorite coffee shop.” And that was all it took for butterflies to erupt in her stomach. Amazed that he was still talking to her after their last awkward encounter, Lily was beginning to worry she was actually falling for the guy. He met her every quip with clever lines of his own, and Lily had never had so much fun talking to someone. Which made it all the more surprising and, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, disheartening when he excused himself to go sit with the cute brunette he was there to meet with. 

“You sound disappointed.”

“Not disappointed,” Lily lied, “I just didn’t know he was going on coffee dates with girls.” She tried hard, but she couldn’t help but let bitterness creep into her voice. Lily glanced at her two friends across the table- Marlene looked sympathetic. Remus, however, looked amused.

“Oh James is going to be so excited that you’re jealous over Mary of all people” 

“I am not jealous!” Lily gave a gut response to Remus’ words, appalled at the thought. “Also who’s Mary? How do you know who it was?” The questions poured out before she could stop herself.

“Was it a girl with short brown-ish hair?”

“Yes,” she said slowly.

“Then that’s Mary.” Remus sounded confident. “Don’t worry- she’s just a friend. She’s been dating James’ cousin for like two years now. They have a study group for Thermo on Mondays.”

“Oh.” Lily’s shoulders dropped an inch as tension she didn’t realize she’d been carrying seemed to evaporate.

Marlene had a mischievous look on her face. “But now we know that Lily get’s jealous of girls that James spends time with.”

A furious blush rose on Lily’s cheeks. “I’m not jealous!” 

“You are so jealous.” Remus chimed in with a laugh.

“Can we go back to when I didn’t know James was your roommate and you didn’t know who the guy was in my stories?”

“Nope.”

Marlene asked a question that Lily had wondered every day since last week, but had always been too nervous about the answer to ever bring up.“Does James know that you brunch with the girl who politely asked him not to kiss her?”

“He knows about brunch, but not who you two are.”

“Well there’s something good at least.” Lily sighed in relief, "Ok. Change of subject. Marlene, who are you bringing to the Iota Society formal?”

“Oh good reminder- Remus want to go to formal with me?” Lily and Marlene were both part of the same scholarship program, the Iota Society, and every year there was a big formal- mostly to entertain alumni donors, but it was also a fun excuse for the students to dress up and pretend they were fancy while also getting drunk on an open bar.

“When is it?”

“Next Friday.”

“I hate you for stealing my date.” Lily mumbled into her plate, only halfway joking.

Marlene rolled her eyes. “Oh hush- you brought Remus last year. It’s my turn to have a fun, easy, friend-date.”

“Yeah I’m free!” Remus looked up from his phone calendar. “Who are you bringing Lily?”

“No earthly idea.” Lily said, embracing her dramatic side for the moment. “There have never been less men I can bring to an event in my life.”

“Oh please,” Marlene scoffed. 

“You ought to invite James,” Remus said as it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

At this Marlene’s eyes lit up. “Oh please!”

“What? No. Even if the ‘please don’t kiss me’ incident never happened, still no,” Lily said automatically. And just in case she needed another reason she added, "I’ve barely even spoken to the guy!“

“Thats not what he said about that night he walked you home,” Remus countered, “He said you talked for a good bit and it wasn’t a quote ‘typical bar scene talk, it was a good life chat’ end-quote.”

Lily blushed, “I mean yeah it was good talking to him that night-“

“-And you talked to him at the coffee shop this week!” Marlene cut in.

“-For half a second!”

“Better than no seconds.” Remus offered his input.

Lily sputtered, “No, come on, it would be so random. I don’t even have his phone number-“

“-Like you just can’t get it from Remus-“ 

“-And even if I did, I still don’t feel like I know him well enough to ask him. I don’t want to bring a complete stranger to the event.”

“But he’s not a-“

Marlene tried to argue back but Remus held up a hand to stop her. “Easily fixed.” 

“Remus what do you mean.” Lily regretted ever entering in this conversation. Heck, ever telling Remus any of her James stories. She knew full well that whenever Remus put his mind to a task, he always got the outcome he wanted. 

“Don’t worry about it Lily,” He said sweetly. 

“I’m definitely worried.”


	4. Thursday #4

Lily and Marlene were running late, blasting music, and hungry for brunch. Marlene turned the corner to Remus’ apartment expecting to see him waiting on the sidewalk like he typically does when they are late. And he is. Along with two other tall figures.

“Why are three of them sitting outside the house?” Lily shifted forward to see better. She cursed when her suspicions were confirmed and she recognized James with his hands in his pockets and a sleepy look on his face. “What is this? Does Remus think that he can just invite whoever he wants to our—“

“G’morning!”

Lily forgot the windows were down. Marlene stopped the car to let the trio in, but Lily grabbed Remus through her window while the other two walked around the car to the other side. 

“What are you playing at Remus,” her voice low, her teeth gritted. 

“You said you’d never spoken to James sober.” Remus said with a shrug. “So, you’re both sober.”

“You’re the worst” Lily let him go. Remus opened the door behind Lily and slid in to sit directly behind Lily.

A moment later her phone buzzed.

_Remus: I think you mean ‘thank you’. I have found you a formal date, after all_

_Lily: Who says I’m going to ask him? Who says I haven’t already got a date- the thing is tomorrow after all._

_Remus: Marlene told me you’ve put it off all week_

_Lily: Traitor_

 

The car ride was not as terrible as Lily expected. Marlene, traitor turned saint, thankfully carried the conversation for most of it. And Lily’s blush had died down by the time they all got to the Silver Skillet. 

“Wait Remus, you’re not hungover.” Marlene said when they all were situated in the booth. Lily found herself on the very inside of the booth- across from Marlene, and between the wall and James. 

“Nope.” Remus glanced at his menu, unconcerned with the shocked looks the two girls were now giving him. 

“We were counting on you to be hungover!” Marlene exclaimed.

Lily added, “This breaks our streak!”

“I’m sorry?” came from a tired looking Sirius.

“What streak?” came from a confused looking James. 

Lily gave the explanation, “Every Thursday we get brunch and without fail, one of us is hungover every week.”

“Except this week.” Marlene was still upset with Remus.

“Why aren’t either of you two hungover? Why is this all my fault?” He defended himself.

“We told you last night we weren’t going out!” said Marlene.

“We even said ‘make sure you are hungover tomorrow because me and Marlene are studying and so aren’t going out tonight’” Lily reasoned.

“I thought you were joking!”

“Why would we be joking?” Marlene crossed her arms. "Now no one is hungover and everything is ruined.”

James responded in place of Remus, “I wouldn’t speak so soon”

“What do you mean?” Lily asked.

James gestured to Sirius who was sitting across from him. Sirius had leaned his head back and closed his eyes, with a pained look on his face.

“Oh.” Marlene gave an apologetic look to Remus. She turned back to Sirius with something like a smile and nudged him to open his eyes. “Story time!”

“Here we go,” Remus sighed.

“Sirius tell us about your night.” Lily put her hands on the table and leaned in.

Marlene echoed across her, “How did you end up like this?”

“Who were you with?”

“What were you doing?”

“Who were you doing?”

“Nice,” Marlene complimented her friend’s question.

Sirius groaned. “Are they always like this?”

“Only to new people,” Remus answered. 

Sirius rubbed his face as though to wake himself up more. 

“Enough with the questions I’ll talk just give me a sec,” he took a big drink from his water glass and began. “So. Last night me, Pete, and some guys from the swim team were hanging out. One of them comes up with this game called tequila time traveling and everything just went downhill.”

“Tequila time traveling?” Marlene repeated, “What is that?”

“Glad you asked. It is the best and worst drinking game I have played in my life. The premise is you have a group of ‘time travelers’ as they say. And you meet at a specific time and location and all take a shot together, then decide the next time and location for the next tequila shot.”

“That doesn’t sound terrible,” Remus mused.

“Yeah. That’s what I though too. But I also thought it would just be different rooms in the house we were at. But then the swimmers choose locations like the tallest diving board in the gym, or the founders fountain across campus and we end up spending the night running around campus absolutely wasted. Peter blacked into ikea and tried to use his student id to buy a cinnamon roll.”

“What? Why was he at ikea?” Marlene laughed.

Lily did her best to pay attention to Sirius’ answer, but god these booths were tight and James’ leg was pressed up against hers and their arms kept brushing every time one of them moved. Her thoughts were consumed with the boy next to her eating quietly rather than the one across the booth talking and gesturing wildly. Lily had yet to speak directly to James all morning. She didn’t know how Remus got James to their breakfast- or what he told James about her and her potential crush-like feelings towards him. And even more pressing was that formal was tomorrow and so it was a now or never type thing. The worst case scenario would be that James knew about formal and so was sitting there waiting on Lily to say something. Or even worse than the worst case, that he knew and didn’t want to go but Remus somehow guilted him into this brunch. Either way, Lily felt all this pressure building up on her to do something, so she acted on an impulse and just stated the obvious.

“You’ve been surprisingly quiet.” The instant the words left her mouth Lily heard how dumb they sounded. Some embarrassment was saved though because she said it in a way that only James heard- everyone else was still intently listening to Sirius’ tales from the night before. 

James turned his head, mirroring Lily but with his eyebrows furrowed in thought. “I have, haven’t I.” 

James took another bite of his waffles that made Lily think the conversation was over. She shifted in her place, but stopped when her knee knocked into James’ for what seemed like the hundredth time all morning. For the first time since knowing James, she felt awkward around him- like she didn’t have the right words. 

But apparently the conversation was not over. “I guess I have a confession,” he said, soft enough not to disrupt the conversation around them. “I’ve been sitting here trying to think of the funniest joke I have so that when I do talk, you think I’m mind blowing-ly hilarious.”

Something almost like relief flooded Lily. “Well,” She controlled the smile that was wanting to come out and instead responded in a mock-serious manner. “What have you come up with?”

James took a deep breath and fixed Lily with an equally as serious look. “What does an egg say at a party?”

Lily’s self control was beginning to crack and the smile was leaking out. "I don’t know. What does an egg say?”

“Omelette” James answered with a proud grin. 

Lily tried her absolute best to look unimpressed at the lame joke, but couldn’t stop the laughter that was bubbling out of her. “That was terrible. Truly. Perhaps the worst joke in the history of jokes.”

“But you still laughed.” James pointed out.

This time Lily did gain control of her giggles to make a straight face. “I was laughing at you, not with you.”

“Ouch, Evans. That one hurt.” James put his hand over his heart like it hurt.

Lily rolled her eyes with a smile, “No it didn’t”

James’ wounded look transformed into a grin that Lily couldn’t help but mirror. And she swore in that instate she melted in her seat.

“I hope you don’t mind that we crashed your breakfast, though.” James reached up to mess with his hair.

It seemed the motion caught Sirius’ attention who decided to join their conversation- his story telling having been concluded.

“You should know James practically begged Remus to let us come once he figured you were one of the brunch groupies.”

“Brunch groupies?” Marlene asked. Sirius gave an explanation, ignoring the sheepish blush his comment had elicited out of James. Lily’s attention, however, was not diverted.

“Ahh shit. This is weird now.” James said, almost to himself. 

“It’s only weird because you begged to come and then didn’t even tell a very good joke”

James laughed in relief. And Lily knew that now was the time she should ask him to the Iota formal. Her biggest fear had been that she ruined her shot with James after the ‘please don’t kiss me’ incident. But here she learned that he wanted to come to brunch, apparently just to see her. But James was looking at her and she lost all her words, so instead focused on drinking her coffee.

She looked up and saw Marlene making a face at her. Lily knew she was telling her to do ask him. So she kicked Marlene under the table.

Marlene hardly flinched and instead winked at Lily.

“Hey Remus, you excited about tomorrow?” She said across the table to Remus, ignoring the daggers that Lily was shooting at her.

“Yeah! I meant to ask- what time do I need to be ready?” Remus replied.

“Come to the apartment at 6 for dinner then we’ll leave at 7. And be sure to wear a suit,” she said, as though she was nervous Remus would show up in jeans and a t-shirt.

“What’s tomorrow?” James cut in.

“Shit,” Lily mumbled. Then with a deep breath she rushed out, “It’s a formal for the Iota Society also James do you want to go to it with me?”

“For the what?” James asked.

“Iota Society- you know that scholarship thing.”

“Ohh.” James’ grin stretched wide. “I’d love to.”

Lily relaxed her shoulders, “Good.”

“Great,” James replied, still grinning. 

And as Lily couldn’t help but smile back, she thought she heard Remus whisper “I’ll bet on a fifth date easy.”

“So does this mean we get to come to all the brunches now?” Sirius asked the table.

Marlene snorted at Sirius frankness, but it was Lily who replied, “I suppose. But you should know that hangovers are encouraged and good stories are required.”

“I think we can make that happen,” James nodded. 

“Good,” replied Lily.

“Great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come find me on tumblr and lets be friends! (es-bee)

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this on tumblr wayy before I made an account here, but figured I should put it up on here too. Comments are like fresh chocolate chip cookies for me. And come say hey on tumblr- I'm es-bee on there. 
> 
> ty!


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